Writer accused of fraud, faces court

Writers are supposed to write fiction, not be fiction. Well now the writer JT Leroy is being sued by her production company over an agreement she signed with them. Why is this? There is no JT Leroy, that’s why.

JT Leroy is just an ‘alter ego’ belonging to a mother named Laura Albert who comes from Brooklyn Heights.

In her books she wrote of having a past full of trauma, where she claims to have lived in poverty and as a child prostitute. In her book Sarah, she made her name, and Hollywood then took notice and wanted to make a film. But now issues have arisen by the fact that the company signed a contract with JT Leroy, who does not exist.

Plenty of writers have used name aliases. Mark Twain would be the obvious example, George Eliot another. She had to use a man’s name in order to be taken seriously as a writer.

Now a days, publishers are obsessed with writers having a ‘past’ they can sell. Just look at James Frey. Was it his writing that caught their attention? No, it was his grandiose fabrications. They value more the ‘experience’ over actual insight and imagination, so who can blame her for trying? Isn’t it sales that they want? Again, does the quality of the writing come into play here?